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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Where's the FUN in the Fundamentals? Advocate for FUN!

HAPPY MARCH! Spring is on the way! Keep Believing! This is Debbie Clement, Editor-in-Chief around this collaboration. Dare I tell you where I am as I type? We are in sun-drenched CABO! At the southern tip of the Mexican peninsula. And we are here to have FUN!FUN!And yet more FUN!We're never too old for fun!!!Our last two Tuesday night Twitter Chats at the hashtag #TeacherFriends have had the topics: #WhatIf #DigCit and Where's the Fun? So I have been focused on those two subjects a lot lately. What if we were more conscientious about being connected? About having fun?

Spring. March. This is such an exciting time of year. All of those laborious and exhausting weeks of establishing routines and parameters are paying off. The evidence of growth and learning is evident on a daily and hourly basis!!! Oh happy day! PROGRESS!Children are learning and acquiring new skills daily! Your hard work and attention to offering opportunities for growth are paying off! It is so important to have a tribe that supports and encourages you. In your building or in cyber-space! OR BOTH!!! It is great when you can rub elbows with people that inspire you and life you up!

That's me in the middle-ish, wearing my polka-dot SUPER HERO cape!

We made our way to Mexico on Monday, by way of the Southern California Kindergarten conference last weekend. It is always exhausting, hard work,anadventure to travel cross country. The packing alone takes me a day.We recently received the very sobering news that a friend of our family suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 64. After some soul searching, we decided that we needed more funin our lives. Our days are indeed numbered. My sweet husband cancelled our return flight from CA to FL and instead we have made a diversion to CABO for a week! This week! Right now! This is the view from our balcony. SHADES OF BLUE and MORE SHADES OF BLUE!

I am attending to this responsibility from my sun drenched balcony, over-looking an infinity pool and further beyond are the glistening waters of the Sea of Cortes. Look closely and you will see that there are ponies tied right there at water's edge.

Trust me I have already enjoyed more than my typical day's allotment of fun! I shot videos of the sun rising over the water (follow me on IG to watch it for yourself) and then I took a yoga class on the beach! AWESOME!

But back to my 'real life' and the having of fun. Having people that you can count on, people that inspire you, people that connect you to new ideas -- is indeed fun for me.

Meet Sylvia of "Learning with Mrs. Parker" fame and blog. We have been cyber friends for over two years and we met for the first time at the conference! BUCKET LIST! Meeting your cyber friends IRL is about as fun as it gets! Sylvia is ALL about integrating technology for her kinders, but doing so in a developmentally appropriate and FUN manner!

I can't say enough about these next two angels pictured in the top of the photo collage below.

They each 'held-me-up' in more ways-than-one during the conference.

Do you recognize them?

It was such an honor to spend time with Katie -- Teacher to the Core, {upper right} who is the type of person that will text you a copy of the conference's agenda, so you are in the right place at the right time.

Then there's my girl-crush, first meet-up with THE Cara -- of First Grade Parade {pictured upper right above.}

Our chauffeured rides arrived at the hotel at the exact same moment.

So that meant we were destined to have fun over dinner!

We laughed. We cried a bit. We had fun. We bonded.

Incredible women.

Since I have last written here, I had the amazing opportunity to speak on one of our Army bases, Fort Stewart in GA, to the 350 teaching team of the young children of our troops stationed there. I was honored that when my final keynote for the day concluded, when the commander of the base awarded me with a medal. THAT WAS FUN!

My newest picture book, "Red, White and Blue" was born during the week following September 11th and the patriotic song and my artwork are welcomed by those connected with our armed services. It is an honor and privilege to share it with teachers who teach the children of our troops.

Also during my tour of GA I had the great good fortune to make a school visit to a primary school, with 578 kindergarten and first grade children(!!!) A brand new consolidation combined five country schools together. The principal shared that they had performed this same song of mine for Veteran's Day last fall, at the first combined PTA meeting since the consolidation. She got teary eyed and I did too.

It is an amazing thing to receive feedback of such magnitude, during the living of your life. Simplicity. Repetition. Heart felt. Feedback is the highest form of FUN possible for an artist, a teacher, a cheerleader.

We have some super exciting news over at WobbleSeat.com where we distribute the fun #AlternativeSeating stools. We can now accept purchase orders from schools and are processing orders coast-to-coast. There is a new VERY adjustable version being released this week, called the "Grow with Me" model!

The top and bottom are the same as the original model and there is a new center post with a 'ring' that is squeezed to change the height anywhere from 15.5" to 21.5" making it tailor made for every height in the classroom!!! BIG NEWS! We are now taking orders and they will begin shipping at the end of the month. We can all envision a back-order, when folks learn of the new model. I have spent a bit of time finding you some FUN and FREE resources for spring. Look below! Hope it makes your day that I have done some of the research for you. Now for some FUN! Take a look at these pictures! Inspiration!

Those just MAY be the most delightful teachers ev-er for Seuss celebration.

Thanks to Missy Gibbs of TX for sharing the photo in Simply Kinder on FB

and giving me permission to share here!

AWARD WINNING FUN, RIGHT THERE!

I had an author visit in February at the school where my nephew Justin teaches Kindergarten. We 'borrowed' one of his fellow teacher's doors for this family photo.

WALKING IN THAT DOOR IS JUST PLAIN FUN!

You can tell when there is spontaneous excitement.

The kids let you know.

Their eyes light up!

Take a look at all of this enthusiasm over making applesauce together!